Why You Should Appreciate Bam Adebayo's 83-Point Game and Ignore the Free-Throw Talk

Bam Adebayo’s historic 83-point game, the second highest mark in NBA history, has caused quite the stir.

Much of the hubbub surrounding Adebayo’s big game has stemmed from just how he got all the way to 83 on Tuesday night against the Wizards. The Heat big man set a record for free throws both attempted and converted on the night as he went 36-for-43 from the foul line. By the final frame, Adebayo, his teammates and coaches decided they were going to see how far the big night could go.

That decision came with about eight minutes left in the game, with Adebayo already up to 70 points on the night. Kobe Bryant’s 81-point performance wasn’t too far off and the game was already over in terms of the scoreboard. At that point, Adebayo began to chuck up wildly contested threes and put up shots against numerous defenders near the hoop, which sent him to the line 13 times in the last seven minutes of the game.

In the age of questioning whether every basketball player and team is “ethical” in their play, a seemingly trivial debate regarding how Adebayo got to 83 points was bound to arise.

“First thing you think is how, you know, not because of him but because of the way he plays. I saw he only made [sic] six threes but 40 free throws or something like that,” Houston Rockets coach Ime Udoka said of Adebayo’s performance. “Tells the story right there. And the Washington Wizards.”

Plenty of NBA players and fans shared a similar sentiment, effectively discounting the downright historic performance. ESPN’s Tim MacMahon said it was “hideous, disgusting basketball” on Wednesday morning and that he’d rather watch Victor Wembanyama score 39 points—which he did in a win over the Celtics Tuesday—in an “ethical” manner than Adebayo score 83 in a “hideous” manner.

Yes, Adebayo took 43 free throws. Yes, he threw up many wild shots he wouldn’t in any other circumstance. And yes, he scored 83 points against a depleted Wizards team that is concerned more about ping pong balls than wins. But 83 points is 83 points. And the historic night shouldn’t be scoffed at when discussing NBA history.

Attempts to invalidate Bam Adebayo’s 83-point game fall apart under the lightest scrutiny

Bam Adebayo and his mother shared an emotional embrace after the historic night | Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images

The unprecedented number of free throws has caused some to balk at Adebayo’s achievement. However, if you examined the fouls called that sent the Miami big man to the line, it’s tough to find even one that felt egregious. Heat writer Brady Hawk posted an in-depth thread on his X account of each foul the Wizards committed on Adebayo Tuesday. Sure, Hawk covers the Heat, but if you watch each foul it’s tough to make an argument against any.

Here’s a video that shows each foul that Wizards defenders committed on Adebayo:

Every foul that led to Bam Adebayo free throws

safe to say all fair calls pic.twitter.com/8fkyyfg9Ow
— Heat Clips 🎬 (@MiamiClip) March 11, 2026

Even if you agree with the majority of the called fouls, you could ridicule the amount of times Adebayo went to the line as the second half dwindled. At that point, a new game within the game started: Adebayo and the Heat went for history, while the Wizards tried to stop it.

Washington’s adjustments aimed to keep the ball away from Adebayo, and sent multiple defenders at him when he did get the rock. That’s a recipe for fouls, even when he’s off the ball. And that’s exactly what happened.

Then, there’s the matter of the extra antics Heat coach Erik Spoelstra took to inflate Adebayo’s total. With just under three minutes left in the game, Spoelstra challenged a charge called on Adebayo while Miami was up by 25 points, hoping to overturn the call and send him to the line. After the call, the rest of the Heat players twirled their fingers in the air to pressure Spoelstra into the challenge, which he obliged. The call wasn’t overturned, however. No harm, no foul.

Two Wizards players take the charge from Bam Adebayo

Erik Spoelstra challenges the call up 25 to try to get Bam two more free throws.

The review was quick, and it was unsuccessful pic.twitter.com/4jN53cE5NQ
— MrBuckBuck (@MrBuckBuckNBA) March 11, 2026

What happens next is where it gets more questionable. The Heat decided to intentionally foul in an effort to get Adebayo the ball back without much time ticking off the clock. That happened three times, twice where it eventually led to Adebayo getting to the line. The third instance was to get him out of the game to a massive ovation. The free throws from the sequence gave Adebayo the points that broke Bryant’s 81-point night, but those foul shots don’t somehow erase the other 79 points he scored on the night. Plus, what came before Adebayo’s free throws is important: Clear fouls committed by Wizards defenders.

Adebayo’s 83 points didn’t all come naturally, but neither did those from Kobe Bryant or Wilt Chamberlain’s historic games

Scoring 80 or more points simply can’t happen without some sort of maneuvering. When Bryant scored 81 for the Lakers in a win over the Raptors in 2006, he took 13 of Los Angeles’ final 17 shots in the game and attempted 13 free throws in the fourth quarter (Adebayo had 16 free-throw attempts in the fourth quarter). Bryant finished the night with 20 foul shots compared to Adebayo’s 43, but there was certainly some inflating going on as the game dwindled.

The Lakers–Raptors game was more interesting as L.A. took only a six-point lead into the fourth quarter. However, the Lakers were up by 17 with 3:26 remaining and Bryant stayed in to get to 80 which he hit on the free-throw line as he scored his final seven points from the charity stripe.

Bryant’s 81-point game felt like a record even though it wasn’t because of how unreachable Chamberlain’s 100-point mark still seems. It’s held in an even higher regard due to how much the late, great Bryant is missed. “A rather melancholy footnote in NBA history occurred,” Lakers public address announcer Lawrence Tanter said to inform the crowd at Crypto.com Arena of Adebayo’s performance, which was met by boos.

Bryant’s tragic death in 2020 is a moment where you don’t forget where you were when you heard the news—I was on the couch eating a chicken finger pita—and it’s fair to wish the idolized legend’s 81 remained solely behind Chamberlain. But the fact of the matter is that it doesn’t any longer. And that doesn’t make Bryant’s 81-point game mean any less.

“He would probably tell me to do it again,” Adebayo said, imagining what conversation he might have had with Kobe after his historic night. Considering the mamba mentality, he’s probably right.

.@notthefakesvp: "What do you think [Kobe would say]?"

Bam Adebayo: "He would probably tell me do it again." 🔥 pic.twitter.com/a1MnY2JIyZ
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 11, 2026

“That was my idol growing up, I watched how he approached the game with that much focus... being locked in 48 minutes of a game,” Adebayo continued on Bryant. “Obviously to see him do it that way, [it was] a special moment. Now, when I got to the free throw line, I was like, ‘Alright, you got 81. But we gotta make these free throws.’”

Although Chamberlain’s 100-point game famously has no footage, there are firsthand accounts on how it went down. Chamberlain took 32 free throws and 62 shots for the Philadelphia Warriors that night. In the fourth quarter, the Knicks began to chew the clock to keep the ball away from Chamberlain. That brought the Warriors to intentionally foul in an effort to get the ball back, just like we saw the Heat do a couple times on Tuesday.

Pablo Torre Finds Out investigated the truth behind the infamous night as some people have believed it may not have even happened since there is no video. Torre interviewed author Gary Pomerantz, who interviewed 56 people in attendance for the 100-point game. One of Pomerantz’s interview subjects was Darrall Imhoff, the Knicks center who guarded Chamberlain that night.

Imhoff said that at one point he disagreed with a foul called on him that sent Chamberlain to the line. “And I said, ‘Why don’t you give the guy 100 points and we’ll all go home?’” Imhoff said to Pomerantz in an interview conducted back in 2003.

"Why don't you give the guy 100 points and we'll all go home?"

—Darrall Imhoff, who guarded Wilt Chamberlain in his 100-point game, called it "a farce.”

Sixty-four years before Bam Adebayo's 83, the Knicks ran a weave to stall and Wilt's Warriors fouled while up 20 to get the… pic.twitter.com/zxZfIaxsPH
— Pablo Torre Finds Out (@pablofindsout) March 11, 2026

In all three instances of an 80-point performance in NBA history, at least some of the historic points came in an unusual manner.

Would all the naysayers rather have Adebayo turn down shots or grab the referee’s whistle so he could swallow it? That simply doesn’t happen when your entire organization bands together to feed its best player the ball when he’s cooking during a special night.

A kid who grew up with his mom in a single-wide trailer got to celebrate with his biggest supporter after he put up the second-best scoring performance in NBA history. He hadn’t even scored 50 points in a game before the Tuesday-night explosion. He should be proud of what he accomplished and observers should take the game for what it is: One of the best offensive showings we’ve ever seen.

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